Mark Oliphant Biography

Mark Oliphant (1901–2000) was considered a great leader in the
sciences, one who inspired his students by his own show of zeal for
his research and his positive view of life in general. He was a
physicist who helped develop the atom bomb, although he later
protested its use and became an ardent humanitarian. In
Oliphant's obituary, the
New York Times
wrote, "He pressed for the peaceful use of atomic energy and
spoke out against all weapons capable of mass destruction. Starting in
1945 he insisted that the world must 'get rid of war or
die,' and that the use of nuclear arms would be a 'moral
crime.' Using nuclear weapons, he said, was 'a dirty,
rotten way to kill people' that could not be justified
'in any circumstances,' even in retaliation."

Born and Raised in Australia

Oliphant was born Markus Laurence Elwin Oliphant on October 8, 1901, in
Adelaide, Australia. He was the oldest of five sons. Oliphant's
father was a very religious man and he wanted his oldest son to be a
priest, but Oliphant had always been more interested in gadgets and
science than in religion. Oliphant was quoted on the Australia Biography
website as saying, "I was always fooling about in the shed at the
back of the garden with bits of wire and bits of wood, making what my
brothers called my 'raggedy, baggedy engines.'" Still
he was highly influenced by religion as a young man, and he always held a
healthy respect for it. As he grew up he also held an appreciation for
education, partly instilled by his mother, who was a schoolteacher. He
graduated from high school with good grades before he went on to attend
the University of Adelaide. He was originally interested in dentistry or
medicine, but a teacher of his, Dr. Roy Burdon, saw an aptitude for
physics in the young man and persuaded him to switch his major. After a
short while Oliphant agreed, and he graduated with a degree in physics. To
pay for his education he took any odd job he could find, working his way
through university.

After graduation he got a job cleaning floors for a jewelry manufacturer.
He married Rosa Wilbraham, who was also from Adelaide, in 1925, and the
two had one daughter. It was while he was working at the jewelers in 1925
that Oliphant attended a lecture given by New Zealand physicist Ernest
Rutherford. He was so impressed by what Rutherford had to say that he
immediately decided that if he could possibly bring it about, he would
work for Rutherford one day. Rutherford worked at the Cavendish Laboratory
in Cambridge, England, one of the most advanced research facilities in
nuclear power at that time. In 1927 Oliphant won an exhibition prize at
Adelaide University, and then was accepted to Cambridge University. He
took a job as exhibition scholar at the Cavendish Laboratory, fulfilling
his wish. He worked there under Rutherford with a team of scientists whose
task was to find a way to split an atom.

Team First to Split the Atom

Oliphant and the team he worked with managed to split the first atom in
1932. It was an amazing accomplishment, but did not take up all of
Oliphant's time. Besides his work on splitting the atom, Oliphant
concentrated on artificially disintegrating the nucleus and positive ions
of the atom as well as designing a particle accelerator. While doing these
things, Oliphant himself discovered helium 3 and tritium, and also figured
out that the nuclei of heavy hydrogen could be forced to react with one
another and to fuse together. It was this discovery of fusion that led the
way to the hydrogen bomb, although Oliphant never wanted nor intended the
knowledge to be used in such a way. It was American scientist Edward
Teller who used Oliphant's knowledge to build the atom bomb.

In 1937 Oliphant took a position with the University of Birmingham, where
he became a professor of physics.
While at the university, along with John Randall and Harry Boot, he
continued his research, and in 1939 he received a grant to help develop a
short wavelength radar. It was this radar that helped the fight against
the German U-boats and bomber offensives during World War II. Former
wavelengths had been around 150 centimeters, very widely spread out; but
these new ones were only 10 centimeters, which meant that the radar waves
could be focused in narrow beams on one specific point to find ships,
submarines, and aircraft, as well as cities. It was a world-changing
discovery. That was the same year that Oliphant took a trip to visit
Berkeley, California. He there met Ernest Lawrence, who taught Oliphant
how to build a 60-inch cyclotron. Because of the advent of World War II he
was unable to finish the project until 1950.

World War II Brought About Atom Bomb

In 1940 two men, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls, who also worked at the
University of Birmingham, theorized that uranium-235 could be used to
create an atom bomb. Oliphant was charged with taking their ideas to a
committee, which had the code name of Maud. Maud in turn sent the theory
to the United States and its Uranium Committee in March of 1941, but the
United States seemed to be uninterested in the idea, as they made no reply
to the report. Britain, however, entrenched in war with Germany, thought
the bomb was necessary and important to their efforts. Oliphant was sent
to America, where he arranged to meet with the Uranium Committee. He
stressed the importance of the project and urged that the committee begin
implementing a plan to develop an atomic weapon.

After speaking to the committee he went to visit his friends and fellow
scientists Ernest Lawrence, James Conant, and Enrico Fermi. He stressed to
them the importance of the project, looking to them to back him up.
Because of his efforts, the United States established the Office of
Scientific Research and Development. This office took on the Uranium
Committee as one of its projects, and in December of 1941, after Pearl
Harbor was attacked by the Japanese, they set up the Manhattan Engineering
District to house what would soon be called the Manhattan Project, to
research the building of a uranium atom bomb.

Oliphant Appalled by Bomb's Power

Oliphant moved to America in November of 1943 to work on the Manhattan
Project, sent as a British delegate. After the use of the bomb in 1945 on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, however, he was appalled by the
devastation, and argued against its ever being used again. He especially
argued against an American monopoly on nuclear technology.
Time International
wrote, "Oliphant made key contributions to the understanding of
nuclear disintegration and the design of particle accelerators. 'We
had no idea,' he later said, 'that this would one day be
applied to make hydrogen bombs.'" Although he had been sent
to press America to build a bomb, no one at the time knew how devastating
such a bomb would be, and Oliphant has said he would not have pressed for
its creation if he had known. He did little work on the actual bomb,
however, because the idea of it made him anxious. Instead he spent most of
his time at Berkeley with Lawrence trying to refine Uranium 235. It was an
important project, if less militarily focused. For his work with this he
was awarded the Hughes Medal in 1943.

In April of 1945 Oliphant returned to England. After VE-Day he returned to
the University of Birmingham to continue on as professor of physics. It
was while he was there that he first heard how the atom bomb was used and
exactly how powerful it was. He felt justifiably divided about the report.
On the one hand he felt a scientist's excitement that an idea he
had helped create had worked, but on the other hand, the stronger side, he
had a humane abhorrence at what the bomb had cost in human lives. Like so
many of the scientists who had worked on the project, Oliphant had never
expected that the bomb's effects would be so devastating. From this
point on, Oliphant became an extreme critic of nuclear weapons. He joined
the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs to discuss with
people all over the world the idea that no one should ever use such a
weapon again. The
Economist
wrote, "Like many of the scientists who helped to make the atomic
bomb, Mark Oliphant expressed dismay when it was used to destroy Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. During the cold war years he was labeled a
'peacenik,' the contemptuous term used to describe those who
questioned the morality of using nuclear weapons."

Returned to Australia and Knighted

Because of his anti-nuclear weapons stance, Oliphant was often left out of
scientific experiments involving nuclear power. The U.S. government
refused to give Oliphant a visa in 1951 when he wanted to attend a nuclear
physics conference in Chicago. The British neglected to ask Oliphant for
help when they tested 12 nuclear weapons from 1952 to 1957, even though he
was exceptionally qualified to assess the safety of the tests to make
certain no one was hurt by them. But Oliphant never again changed his
opinion on the weapons. Because of the work he did during the war,
Oliphant was given a Congressional Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm, but
the Australian government vetoed the honor.

Oliphant returned to Australia in 1950. There he became the first director
of the Research School of Physical Sciences at the new Australian National
University in Canberra. While there, he helped design and build the
world's largest homopolar generator, which was used to give power
to a large scientific railgun instrument. He also set up the Australian
Academy of Science in 1954 and became its first president in 1956. In 1959
Oliphant was knighted.

Became State Governor of South Australia

He retired from the Australian National University in 1967. He was then
invited to become the state governor of South Australia. He accepted the
honor and held office from 1971 to 1976. As governor he used his position
to oppose France's nuclear testing in the Pacific. He went so far,
in fact, that he said he would join anyone putting together an
expedition to try to stop them. In 1977 he was made a Companion in the
Order of Australia.

Oliphant's wife, Rosa, died in 1987. After witnessing her suffering
prior to her death, he became a strong proponent for voluntary euthanasia
for debilitating and incurable diseases. Oliphant died in Canberra on July
14, 2000, at the age of 98. Oliphant will not soon be forgotten, however.
Many locations have been named after the great scientist, including the
Mark Oliphant Conservation Park, the Oliphant building at Australian
National University, the Oliphant wing of the Physics Building at the
University of Adelaide and the Mark Oliphant Building in Bedford Park,
South Australia. A South Australian High School science competition was
also named in his honor. He will be remembered as the scientist who
unwillingly helped to build the atomic bomb, but who stuck by his
principles in trying to stop the further development and use of nuclear
weapons.